Dating for Efficiency Experts

A new app is challenging the romantic ambivalence of our millennial culture. “First” doesn’t let you swipe. It doesn’t let you message. The app instead has users list a date they’d like to go on. You pick the time and place –laser tag? Dinner at the new BBQ joint? Hike up the nearest mountain? – and it’s put into the feed of open dates. Other daters then submit to be your date – kind of like a true-love auction.

The most interesting part of the experience is that the two parties don’t have any ability to contact each other prior to meeting. Once the date is set, the app relies on the two people actually showing up. It puts a lot of onus on your calendar… especially considering we live in an age of rescheduling. The app also has a tight “no-shows” policy: get reported twice, and you’re kicked off the app. Would you rather swipe your life away? Or jump in to a first-date?